Realique
A task management app that assists graduate students in creating realistic and flexible schedules and making automated adjustments on the go.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
A group of emeritus professors tasked Compendiem, a software & design agency based out of San Diego, CA., with a project to research and design a graduate student-focused productivity mobile app.
OUTCOMES
Reduction in Missed Deadlines 👉 Graduate students reported a 46% decrease in missed deadlines due to the app's effective time management and task breakdown features.
Improved Task Completion Rate 👉 Students completed 26% more tasks on time using the PERT method's time estimates.
Increased User Engagement 👉 Over 81% of users reported higher engagement with their schedules, particularly citing the Pomodoro timer and easy Realique task adjustment.
MY ROLE
As a Product designer I was responsible for conducting user research, conceptual and visual design and user testing.
PROBLEM SPACE
45% of Graduate Students Fail to Complete Their Degrees
I wanted to solve a large and growing problem in universities today. Professors observe that 45% of graduate students fail to complete their degrees, and students cite a poor work-life balance as the major cause of this.
Goals
👉 Employ the Double Diamond method to refine the clients’ broad problem into a clear actionable product.
👉 Find the root cause of students’ poor work-life balance.
👉 Figure out how we can support students by using technology, improve their work-life balance, and finish their degrees.
01 DISCOVER
Investigative Research
Before jumping to find a solution, I started to understand the problem space, graduate students' work-life imbalance through the following ways:
Reading articles, white papers, and case studies.
Drawing from my experience as a professor and observing students' behavior.
Analyzing success stories using key project management techniques like PERT.
After my investigative research, I developed the following three hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Students do not set realistic expectations about what they can do daily.
Hypothesis 2: Students do not create a regular to-do list.
Hypothesis 3: Students do not prioritize their tasks and focus on most important activities.
User Survey
Then, I sent out a screener survey to test my hypothesis and gain a foundational understanding of my target audience. This is the result of survey:
⭐️ Winning Hypothesis ⭐️
Hypothesis 1: Graduate students challenge balancing their work and life because they do not have realistic expectations about what they can do on a daily basis.
User Interviews
Then, I conducted 30-minute user interviews with 10 graduate students who struggle with balancing their work and life. They shared their experiences about this problem and using work life balance apps. When asked to describe the most important features of work life balance tools, the highest responses included:
A feature to track weekly tasks, tailored to the demands of graduate school.
A tool to help estimate the optimal timing for completing tasks.
A capability to review performance over both short and long terms.
A function designed to minimize distractions.
Validated Hypothesis Deep Dive
After the hypothesis 1 got validated, I analyzed the major causes of unrealistic expectations in students. I concluded that they stem from four biases and can be managed with effective time and effort management techniques.
Bringing Users to Life via Personas
Based on those three rounds of research, I created three personas to make their goals, motivations, needs, and pain points memorable throughout the design process. These personas represent three types of users: an overambitious PhD student, an MFA student with a disability, and an MBA student working full-time.
02 DEFINE
Refined Problem Statement
After multiple research rounds, I refined and narrowed the initial broad problem statement:
Graduate students struggle with time management and overestimate their capacity to complete tasks.
User Stories
To stay aligned with user needs, I wrote these User Stories to highlight the app's core features that help users achieve their goals.
As a graduate students I need to:
03 IDEATE
Brainstorm Workshop
I presented the research outcomes to the clients then developed and conducted a brainstorming design workshop with them and did live sketching to explore what this product could look like.
Transforming Concepts into Viable User Flows
After the design brainstorm session, I organized the screens, Identified any gaps, and attempted to map out the entire product’s user flows.
04 LOW FIDELITY DESIGN
Low Fidelity Wireframes
Using the insights from the workshop and the review process for creating viable user flows, I created low-fidelity wireframes to represent the screens and made prototypes from them.
06 USER TEST-1
Guerrilla Usability Test and Outcomes
I created a clickable low-fidelity prototype and conducted a Guerrilla usability test with five students to identify design issues. I uncovered pain points in automated task adjustments and productivity analysis, leading to these changes.
Adding ''Override Warning Notification"
Flow - Automated task adjustments
To address users' frustration with accidental double-bookings, I added an override warning. Now, the app alerts them if a slot is already taken, helping prevent this common mistake.
Adding a Block off Feature
Flow - Automated task adjustments
Some users mentioned specific times during the week when they prefer not to work and would like the app to avoid scheduling tasks during these periods. Based on this feedback, I added a feature that allows users to block off those times, ensuring the app does not schedule work during these periods.
Making the Analysis info Understandable
Flow - Productivity analysis
I noticed that users were confused about the meaning of the bars. To address this, I created a card that clearly displays the numbers of early, on-time, and late tasks.
07 HIGH FIDELITY DESIGN
Exploring the Visual Language via Mood Board
Before moving to high-fidelity prototypes, I created a mood board with smooth colors, small illustrations, and curvy corner cards to craft a UI that conveys joy and peace to stressed students.
UI Iterations
I selected one of the most crowded screens to test the mood board and developed different design iterations. Bellow is a selection of some of these iterations with different layouts, colors and fonts. The clients decided to choose the highleghted due to its consistent design and enhanced accessibility achieved through contrasting colors and appropriate font size.
UI Style Guide and Components
After selecting the best iteration, I tested it for accessibility, then designed a UI style guide based on it and developed the ready to code components for Realique. I chose green for its calming effect, Poppins for its friendly, modern look, and added 2D and 3D illustrations to keep users engaged and optimistic.
High Fidelity Design
After developing a visual system and testing it for accessibility, I designed all the MVP (minimum viable product) screens and the prototype to ensure a detailed and accurate representation of the final product.
06 USER TEST- 2
Final Round of User Testing
After finishing the high-fidelity prototype, I ran a 30-minute user test with five users via Zoom .
The users were able to complete all tasks but I found an important issue, confusion about the purpose of timer.
Before
Users were unclear about the purpose of a 25-minute timer.
They preferred more timing options.
They needed to view the duration of tasks.
"4×25 min working left" and "4×25 min break left" were not understood correctly.
After
Descriptive Banner: Added a banner explaining the 25-minute work/5-minute rest timer to first-time users.
Timer Customization: Allowed timer adjustment between 20-30 minutes, sticking to the Pomodoro technique.
Task Duration Visibility: Enabled users to see task durations after adding them to the timer.
Simplified Info: Removed unnecessary details about the timer to ensure clarity.
Solution
Examples of the Features Designed by me
Syncing the Calendars and Blocking the Time off
When users land on the app's home page, they see two banners: one to sync Realique with other calendars, preventing task conflicts, and another to block off personal time, ensuring work-life balance.
Creating a Task
Users can add tasks to their calendars by selecting an icon, assigning a color code, and setting start/end times and dates. They can also describe the task for a smoother workflow breakdown.
Breaking Down the Task
Students often underestimate the complexity of tasks, leading to unrealistic expectations. Realique solves this by automatically breaking tasks into smaller, manageable subtasks, making them more visible and achievable.
Estimating Task Duration with PERT Method
Students often struggle with overoptimism in scheduling. Realique tackles this by using the PERT method, which combines user input to calculate realistic task times. It guides users, offering accurate time estimates for better planning and more reliable schedules.
PERT Estimate= (O+4M+P)÷ 6
Optimistic Time (O), Most Likely Time (M), Pessimistic Time (P)
Task Cards
Once the task is created in the app, it is displayed with a task card to show the users the task details and progress.
Task Adjustment
Research shows that students often stick to their original plan, even when changes are needed. A user can edit any task, which prompts Realique to adjust the subsequent tasks quickly based on this change. In addition to helping students unwind, Realique sends cheerful messages with funny illustrations every Saturday and Sunday, easing their stress.
Countdown Timer
Students often face burnout from working without breaks. The Pomodoro technique helps by letting users set a 20-30 minute work timer, followed by a 5-minute break, promoting focus and mental refreshment.
Analysis of Performance
Maintaining a realistic schedule and work-life balance requires accurate self-assessment. Realique helps by offering detailed weekly and monthly performance reports. These reports highlight metrics like late, on-time, and early task completions, while fun animal avatars add a touch of encouragement to the experience.
Prototype
This prototype demonstrates key product interactions. To ensure efficiency, only a selection of flows has been recorded.
Takeaways
The results from the two usability tests reveal that users found Realique functional and user-friendly, with high praise for its modern, sleek visual design. They particularly appreciated the creative and helpful approach to estimating task duration and analyzing performance. However, some areas for improvement were identified:
Integrating aspects of gamification into the Analysis page could motivate students to complete their tasks.
Adding a yearly report feature could provide long-term insights for users.
Creating Realique has been a rewarding journey throughout the entire UX research and design process. Developing this app provided me with hands-on experience in analyzing user behavior and transforming these insights into a practical design solution.